I will soon be picking up my new canoe and since I’m alone now, would like to lift it off the top of my car in the enclosed (high ceiling) carport. Anyone have recommendations/plans for a simple, manageable system? This canoe will be 16’6" and weigh 50-55pounds.Thanks for any advice. ; ) Thanks. Kris
We had something homemade and similar… but face down for canoe…you don’t want to have to turn it over on the rack!
Here’s what I use. Some pictures are here…
and here…
The first set of pictures, where a single line splits into two to lift the boat, is what I prefer, but unfortunately I don’t have a complete set of photos showing every detail for that system. Basically, there’s a fork in the line with a turnbuckle on one fork to provide easy adjustment to ensure the boat still hangs level after there’s been some stretch in the lines. Lifting the boat with two separate lines, both cranked onto the same winch as shown in the second set of photos, works, but creates the problem that the boat usually will not remain level when lifted, as noted in the text that goes with those pictures.
If you plan on building a lifting kit similar to what I use, you WILL need a hand winch. Pulling 50 pounds with a rope and no mechanical advantage using just your hands is much harder than you would think, and even running the rope around a few pulleys to simply change the direction of pull increases the required pulling force. The hand winches shown in my photos range in cost from $10 to $30. Pulleys and hanging hardware are available at any hardware or home-supply store. For the use that you describe, you’d have no need for having a way to support the boat on the floor when lowered (as shown in some of the pictures).
Kayamedic is right about leaving the canoe upside-down for hoisting and storing. For supporting the boat, you could just run a strap around the hull, as the folks who make the Harken hoist would instruct you to do, but it’s a lot better to lift a canoe with gunwales (rails) resting on a solid bar of some kind because that doesn’t create a pinching force the way of circular loop of strapping will do. You could buy the Harken hoist or a generic equivalent (I have heard that the same hoist with the exact same parts as a Harken hoist is available at big-box stores for a small fraction of the price of the name-brand model), and make your own support bars.
I have two of these and don’t like either one…https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--kayak-hoist-system--13837398 The strap around the kayak and the hooks have been reworked to reduce sling height and get the kayak above head height. (8’ ceiling) The bar at the gunwales is a better solution. The cleat at the main block assembly is hard to release and when released the near weight of the boat is upon you. It needs more blocks(pulley) to give mechanical advantage. However that kayak rarely goes out.
When you anchor this, or any other, to the ceiling make sure you connect with the trusses/framing. Don’t scrimp on the fasteners. I used 1/4" and/or 5/16" lag screws to anchor the hoist beam (2x4) and blocks. Smaller screws or short fasteners may pull out. The hoist beam is good because it can bridge the gap between framing and/or extend past the last framing to get the right angles for the hoist lines.
At the club we have a cable, block and winch system to hoist them electrically. It’s complicated, but some of our boats are heavy and our paddlers small.
I ran two light chains from beams that were long enough that I could reach them easily. .Ran the chains through two pieces of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe wide enough for the canoe. I ran bolts through the chains at each end of the PVC pipe to keep them from shifting. The whole set up cost me less than $20. The negative is that they are a set length and can’t be hoisted higher.
You can try it with light cable and pulleys if you want to hoist it higher, but I suspect you will need two people to do it. easily. See horrible drawing of my ideas
I don’t have a garage, but I have multiple kayaks and a basement with 9’ ceilings and I have a simple system for hoisting them – in fact we set up something similar in my ex boyfriend’s barn for hoisting our 16’ canoe off his roof rack. I screw pairs of heavy duty steel hooks into adjacent ceiling joists in they are running parallel to how the boats will hang, or about 30" apart if along joists that are perpendicular to the boat. Then I take strong rope (yellow “ski tow” rope or strong braid sheathed “perlon”) and cut about a 10’ piece. One end gets an overhand loop tied in it that gets hung on one hook. Then I thread the rope through a 36" length of hollow foam pool noodle. On the remaining free rope end I tie another overhand loop at the very end and then two additional loops (for which I prefer a butterfly loop knot) one about 6" to 8" from the end loop and the last about 6" to 8" from the second loop. I repeat this installation for the second sling at the mid-stern of where the boat will hang.
To unload a boat from a roof rack with this arrangement you need a small stepladder that will enable you to reach the ceiling joist where the hooks are. You pull the vehicle into the space so the boat is aligned where you will want to hoist it. You pass the free rope end of one sling (with the three loops on it) under the boat (having removed any straps or rope attaching the boat to the rack). Repeat with second sling. Now walk to the other side of the vehicle, grab the free rope end, climb the step stool or ladder and hook whichever loop in the rope over the second hook that will lift the boat just slightly off the car rack. Move the ladder down to the other sling and repeat the operation but move the rope to the next loop so that that end of the kayak is higher off the car. Then move the ladder back to the first sling, and pull the next loop up and slip it over the hook. This will hoist the boat level and well off the car.
If you want to hoist it higher, use the last loop (the one closest to the pool noodle). This system takes about $6 worth of material and 15 minutes to set up. You could also do it with chain instead of rope as long as the links were large enough to slip over the ceiling hooks.